March 20, 2017

He’s a Local Pillar in a Trump Town. Now He Could Be Deported.

Elizabeth Hernandez with her sons, from left, Gianluca, 6, Kharloz, 8, and Maximus, 2, at their home in West Frankfort, Ill. Ms. Hernandez’s husband, Juan Carlos Hernandez Pacheco, was taken into custody earlier this month by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Credit
Whitney Curtis for The New York Times Foto de: Whitney Curtis for The New York Times

Elizabeth
Hernandez with her sons, from left, Gianluca, 6, Kharloz, 8, and
Maximus, 2, at their home in West Frankfort, Ill. Ms. Hernandez’s
husband, Juan Carlos Hernandez Pacheco, was taken into custody earlier
this month by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Credit
Whitney Curtis for The New York Times Foto de: Whitney Curtis for The New York Times

WEST
FRANKFORT, Ill. — Ask residents of this coal-mining crossroads about
President Trump’s decision to crack down on undocumented immigrants and
most offer no protest. Mr. Trump, who easily won this mostly white
southern Illinois county, is doing what he promised, they say. As Terry
Chambers, a barber on Main Street, put it, the president simply wants
“to get rid of the bad eggs.”

But then they took Carlos.

Juan Carlos Hernandez Pacheco — just Carlos to the people of West Frankfort — has been the manager of La Fiesta,
a Mexican restaurant in this city of 8,000, for a decade. Yes, he
always greeted people warmly at the cheerfully decorated restaurant,
known for its beef and chicken fajitas. And, yes, he knew their children
by name. But people here tick off more things they know Carlos for.

How
one night last fall, when the Fire Department was battling a two-alarm
blaze, Mr. Hernandez suddenly appeared with meals for the firefighters.
How he hosted a Law Enforcement Appreciation Day at the restaurant last
summer as police officers were facing criticism around the country. How
he took part in just about every community committee or charity effort —
the Rotary Club, cancer fund-raisers, cleanup days, even scholarships
for the Redbirds, the high school sports teams, which are the pride of this city.

“I
think people need to do things the right way, follow the rules and obey
the laws, and I firmly believe in that,” said Lori Barron, the owner of
Lori’s Hair A’Fairs, a beauty salon. “But in the case of Carlos, I
think he may have done more for the people here than this place has ever
given him. I think it’s absolutely terrible that he could be taken
away.”

On
Feb. 9, Mr. Hernandez, 38, was arrested by federal immigration agents
near his home, not far from La Fiesta, and taken to a detention facility
in Missouri. The federal authorities confirmed that he remained in
custody, but would not comment on the precise reason for or timing of
his arrest.

Immigration
officials noted that Mr. Hernandez had two drunken-driving convictions
from 2007, a circumstance that could make him a higher priority for
deportation. Friends of his say he crossed into the United States from
Mexico in the late 1990s and had started but never completed efforts to
legalize his status.

What
happened when federal immigration agents showed up in a small town that
voted overwhelmingly for President Trump, transforming his campaign
rhetoric into reality.

As
Victor Arana, a lawyer for Mr. Hernandez, began pressing in court to
seek release for Mr. Hernandez on bond until his case can be heard, the
community has rallied around him, writing pleas for leniency to the
officials who will decide his fate.

Tom
Jordan, the mayor of West Frankfort, wrote that Mr. Hernandez was a
“great asset” to the city who “doesn’t ask for anything in return.” The
fire chief described him as “a man of great character.”

The
letters have piled up — from the county prosecutor, the former
postmaster, the car dealer, the Rotary Club president. In his note,
Richard Glodich, the athletic director at Frankfort Community High School,
wrote, “As a grandson of immigrants, I am all for immigration reform,
but this time you have arrested a GOOD MAN that should be used as a role
model for other immigrants.”

This
is an uncomfortable stance for a place like West Frankfort. This
county, Franklin, backed Mr. Trump with 70 percent of the vote, largely
on hopes, people here say, that he could jump-start the coal industry, which has receded painfully
here over decades. Illegal immigration was by no means the most
pressing issue for this overwhelmingly white area, residents say.

Still,
many say they concur in principle with Mr. Trump’s wish to be more
aggressive in blocking those who seek to sneak across the border. Things
grew more tangled when principle met West Frankfort’s particular
reality, in the form of Carlos.

Many people said they had no idea Mr. Hernandez lacked legal status until word of his arrest began spreading.

“I
knew he was Mexican, but he’s been here so long, he’s just one of us,”
said Debra Johnson, a resident. She said she saw a distinction between
“people who come over and use the system and people who actually come
and help.”

Mr.
Hernandez has been the manager of La Fiesta for a decade. Townspeople
say he has done much more than serve them Mexican food.
Credit
Whitney Curtis for The New York Times Foto de: Whitney Curtis for The New York Times

Not
everyone feels Mr. Hernandez should be treated unlike anyone else
without permission to be here. As friends have gathered words of support
for him through an email address — istandwithcarlos@gmail.com
— other messages have arrived there, too. “Carlos is probably a nice
man, but he broke our country’s law,” one email read. Some critics point
to the two drunken-driving cases. (His friends say he quit drinking
after that.)

Asked about Mr. Hernandez, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement
released a statement that read, in part: “Every day, as part of routine
operations, ICE officers target and arrest criminal aliens and other
individuals who are in violation of our nation’s immigration laws.”

“No
U.S. citizen is above the U.S. law! If a U.S. citizen breaks a law they
go to jail or prison! No illegal alien is above the U.S. law!”

And:
“I get that this man has been here for years and years and has
contributed to society, but he isn’t LEGAL, therefore the U.S. has every
right to throw him out.”

And: “A couple thousand down, millions to go.”

Around West Frankfort, some people grow quiet when asked whether some undocumented people should be granted exceptions.

“With
everything that’s gone on — we’ve had years of unemployment rates that
are skyrocketing — I would like to see some of the people that I know go
back to work before I worry about people from other countries coming
here and making a better life for themselves,” said Audrey Loftus, 38, a
bartender at the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post.

But
Mr. Hernandez, Ms. Loftus said, has left her “on the fence” about what
should happen now. “I hate to use the word rednecks, but this is
southern Illinois,” she said. “This is the definition of a good old
boys’ club, and you don’t have a lot of people of different ethnicities
that are in this area.

Juan Carlos Hernandez Pacheco with his wife, Elizabeth, in a photograph provided by her.

“And then there’s Carlos,” she continued. “You will not find a single person that has anything bad to say about him.”

Mr.
Hernandez’s lawyer said that a hearing was expected in his case on
Wednesday and that he was hoping Mr. Hernandez might be released on bond
as any legal action went forward.

His
wife, Elizabeth Hernandez, who attained United States citizenship late
last year, according to Mr. Arana, said she was struggling to sleep,
since her husband was detained. The couple has three sons, the youngest
2.

“What
I’m really worrying about,” she said in a telephone interview, “is what
am I going to tell my three boys if he can’t stay here?”

Tim
Grigsby, who owns a local printing shop and considers Mr. Hernandez one
of his closest friends, has been helping to lead the efforts to bring
Mr. Hernandez back to West Frankfort. He said he had always known that
Mr. Hernandez did a lot around town. But he said that even he did not
grasp the scope of it all until the letters started flowing in.

There
was the pastor who described Mr. Hernandez helping at a funeral, the
family that remembered him raising hundreds of dollars for its son’s
hearing aid, the businessman who said that he was mostly a private
person but that Mr. Hernandez was one of the few people he invites over
for dinner.

Mr.
Grigsby said he still would vote for Mr. Trump. One never agrees with
everything a politician does, “but maybe this should all be more on a
per-case basis,” he said. “It’s hard to be black and white on this
because there may be people like Carlos.”